Adventure # 1,010: Great Basin National Park, Lehman Caves, Comins Lake, Cave Lake, Elko and Unionville

What better way to see Nevada than to take a 6 day road trip that begins on one side of the state and leads you to the far other side and then back around again?



We began our journey early Sunday morning with our first intentions on taking Highway 50 East bound towards Baker, Nevada and the Great Basin National Park. We drove through Fernley, Fallon and headed up to Austin, Nevada to fill up the truck. Little did we know that Austin was being invaded with thousands upon thousands of Mormon Crickets. The roads where literally colored red with the moving crickets and left a solid blood red color in every path that a car had traveled over them. Even the bikers at the gas station said that they had a hard time driving without slipping from side to side on the bug guts.



After leaving Austin and driving through the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and Eureka, we continued on our way east towards Baker making a few quick stops along the way. Illipah Reservoir was just one stop before driving into Ely, Nevada. Illipah is a great place to fish, but like any Nevada Reservoir, you have to get to fishing early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the wind. There are several places to camp around the Reservoir as well as campgrounds that are setup a little further out from the Reservoir itself.

Leaving Illipah we headed past Ely and made a quick stop by Comins Lake which is located directly to the right of Highway 50/93. There were only a few folks camping and fishing on the lake that afternoon, probably due to the amount of wind that was causing some white caps on the top of the water.

With 6 hours behind us, we finally arrived to our first destination of Baker, Nevada. Baker is located right at the foot of Wheeler Peak and the Great Basin National Park and has a few amenities as well as a place to fill up if you need to. Although we had arrived at the Park, our next three days where scheduled to stay with a family run ranch called Hidden Canyon Ranch. I would recommend this ranch to anyone who enjoys the great outdoors as well as several hidden and secret amenities that they offer.



We were able to stay at their 10,000 square foot log cabin and use all of the amenities that they had been feverishly working on: Fishing Ponds with Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, Pheasant Hunting (not offered till season opens), camping, barbeques, horseshoes, swimming, ATV trips, breakfast and dinner. Not only did we enjoy all of the amentias, but we also encountered and enjoyed several wildlife opportunities: wild turkeys with young turkeys, pheasants, does, bucks and fawns, wild and tamed horses, llamas, chickens, chukar, quail and goats...etc.

Having had a great time at the ranch we headed back to Baker and stopped by the Lehman Caves for an hour and a half tour. The tour is something else to consider doing if you travel to the Great Basin National Park. It's an amazing and almost claustrophobic experience to walk underground several hundred feet. You feel the difference in temperature and humidity the minute that you first take a step inside. The park has done a great job of being able to give you the history of the caves as well as an understanding of how the cave was formed throughout time. Leaving the park was hard; however our third day was planned for camping at Cave Lake as well as driving around Success Loop to find the herds of Elk.

Cave Lake is located just outside of Ely, Nevada and takes about 15 minutes to get to on a well paved road. The lake is another must see for either fishing or camping. We had no time for fishing since a storm had just passed through and we needed to setup camp before heading out to spot the Elk. BINGO! There they were...bedded down with their young in an opening at the bottom of some quakies. Like anything, once you spot one thing, your eyes quickly become tuned into to being able to spot several others. They were all over the side hills slowly grazing back and forth. We must have spent the next hour just glassing all of them and enjoying having had seen as much wildlife that we had.

The fourth day was planned for staying in Elko, getting cleaned up and heading to what is one of the BEST of the BEST Basque steakhouses around: The Star. With an hour and a half wait on a Wednesday evening, we were ecstatic to finally have sat down and ordered up some of the largest cuts of meat that no other steakhouse could offer in Nevada.

Once out of Elko we had intended on heading to Wildhorse Reservoir for the last night of camping but plans soon changed when we realized that driving so much could become exhausting especially driving on a paved road. So we had decided to head back on Interstate 80 West towards home and make one more stop in a place that we know and love: Unionville, Nevada.

Unionville is located in Pershing County and is considered to be an old Ghost Town that was once most popular during the 1870's through the 1880's when it produced about $3,000,000 dollars in what was mostly silver. There are still several old homes and relics around to look at as well as a Bed and Breakfast. There is a park that is located further in the canyon and is well maintained for travelers or campers. I do want to note that there are dozens of peacocks running around the streets throughout the day and if you have never encountered peacocks and you are a light sleeper, you might find it difficult to get a restful sleep throughout the evening. They are loud and obnoxious birds but great alarm systems for predators.



Once we finished setting up camp, we headed out to do a little skeet shooting. I think the score was 21/33 vs. 32/43 and then took a drive to spot some deer. We didn't have to go too far since the deer side step the two canyon walls throughout Unionville. If you want to see wildlife just pull up a chair, grab a beer and wait. They come to you.

So all in all, this trip was one of the best trips that we have ever planned for and taken. Basically we experienced and saw more places and wildlife in six days than in the last year. If you want any more information on this trip or would like some recommendations on where to stay, simply send us an email and we'll help you out! Have some great outdoor adventures and get off road and fish Nevada!

For more photos of the trip Click Here.

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